Using the MSU Thesis Class
Alan Munn
Department of Linguistics and Languages
amunn@msu.edu
Version 3.0
2021/06/10
Abstract
This is a class file for MSU theses and dissertations. It is based on the memoir class, and
therefore supports all of the functionality of that class. It should generate a document which meets all the basic formatting requirements laid out by the Formatting Guide For Submission of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations (March 2020) produced by the Graduate School, including requirements for margins, titlepage, page numbering, section titles, sub- and superscript sizes etc.
1
Introduction
Formatting a dissertation according to a University’s thesis requirements is not always a simple task in LATEX, especially since the requirements are generally aimed at MSWord users. Furthermore, most
of the work of formatting a document is supposed to be done by the document class itself, and not by the individual user. Fortunately, Michigan State University’s thesis requirements are for the most part sane, and fairly straightforward. The present class file is designed to further make the process easier for LATEX users, by doing all the heavy lifting for you, so that you can focus on the content and not the
formatting.
2
Background
The MSU Thesis Class is based on thememoirdocument class. Thememoirclass is an extensive class that
incorporates the functionality of many other packages into it. The class is extensively documented, and the documentation (memman.pdf) should be available with any TEX distribution. I strongly recommend
that you familiarize yourself withmemoiras you use the present class.
3
Class Options
In addition to any options passed to the memoir class (e.g. oldfontcommands; see Section 5.4, font
size), themsu-thesistakes five options: one to specify the type of degree, (see Table1), one to enable
landscape page numbering, two to enable per-chapter bibliographies and appendices, and one to make small adjustments to Table of Contents. If no degree option is specified, a Ph.D. dissertation is assumed.
3.1
The
[lscape]option
The Formatting Guide requires that any lansdscape pages be numbered in landscape mode (i.e. along the long edge of the page) rather than in portrait mode, and rotated in the final PDF. The [lscape]
option enables this. The option loads both thepdflscape package andtikz, and is implemented as a
Option name
Description
[PhD]
Doctor of Philosophy (default)
[DEd]Doctor of Education
[DMA]
Doctor of Musical Arts
[DNP]Doctor of Nursing Practice
[MA]Master of Arts
[MS]
Master of Science
[MAT]
Master of Arts for Teachers
[MBA]
Master of Business Administration
[MFA]Master of Fine Arts
[MIPS]
Master of International Planning Studies
[MHRL]
Master of Human Resources and Labor Relations
[MMus]Master of Music
[MPH]
Master of Public Health
[MPP]Master of Public Policy
[MSW]Master of Social Work
[MURP]
Master in Urban and Regional Planning
Table 1: Package degree options
3.2
The
[chapterbib]option
This option enables per-chapter bibliographies. Each chapter must have its own bibliography. If you are using natbibfor bibliographies, per-chapter bibliographies can be implemented using the chapterbib
package. Please read its documentation carefully, as it requires each chapter to be a separate file. An newer alternative which I highly recommend is to use biblatex for your bibliography, which makes
per-chapter bibliographies very simple. If you have per-chapter bibliographies you cannot have a global bibliography.
3.3
The
[chapterapp]option
This option enables per-chapter appendices. Any appendix must be associated with its own chapter. If you have per-chapter appendices you cannot have any global appendices.
3.4
The contents options
In 2013 I received reports that the thesis office now requires all elements in the Table of Contents to have the same formatting as they are in the main document, which means that all section, subsection, and subsubsection headings need to be bold. Since this looks very ugly, I have created two options to turn it off, the [plaintoc]option (which makes all ToC entries plain) and[mixedtoc] option (which
makes Chapters bold and other elements plain). I suspect that the thesis office checkers don’t notice this all the time so if you want to have a prettier table of contents and are willing to have that format be corrected, you can use these options to turn off the MSWord inspired ugliness of an entirely bold Table of Contents. I’ve made[plaintoc]the default. If you are forced by the thesis office to have an entirely
bold ToC, use the[boldtoc]option.
3.5
Font size options
As of v2.9, the class now supports10pt,11ptand12ptfont sizes. The default is12pt. If you are using
larger font like Computer Modern,11pt is probably fine. Use10pt at your own peril, as I suspect the
Thesis Office will not accept it!
4
User commands
In addition to all the user functionality defined by memoir, the msu-thesis class defines seven new
titling commands.
\maketitlepage Makes the main title page for the thesis.
\fieldofstudy{} Takes one argument corresponding to your field of study. \dedication{} Takes one argument (should be short), your dedication.
{publicabstract} Environment for the public abstract (unnumbered, uncounted). \makecopyrightpage Creates the copyright page.
\makededicationpage Creates the dedication page.
\makebibliographypage Creates the bibliography cover page.
5
Using the class
5.1
Logical parts of the document
Most book-length documents are divided into three main kinds of parts: the front matter, the main matter, and the back matter. In memoir (and therefore msu-thesis) these sections are preceded by
the commands\frontmatter,\mainmatter, and\backmatter. These commands tell the class when to
change the page numbering, for example, front matter pages use lower case roman numerals, but main matter pages use arabic numerals.
The basic outline of a dissertation or thesis document is shown in Table2: (your thesis may not have all of these parts, but if it does, they should be in this order.) You can find an annotated copy of the basic structure in thesamplesfolder of themsu-thesisdocumentation.
5.2
What does the class file do?
The class itself sets up the margins, page numbering, and formatting of all of the required pieces. It doesn’t put everything in the right order, so you are responsible for that. The best way to do this is to use the included sample LATEX file as a basic template for your thesis.
5.3
Line Spacing
Thememoirclass provides commands for single and double spacing (\SingleSpacingand\DoubleSpacing)
most of your thesis will be double spaced, but certain parts (such as the table of contents, lists of figures/-tales, bibliography) may be single spaced. This duplicates the functionality of thesetspace package,
which therefore should not be used. For bibliography spacing issues, see also Section5.11.1.
5.4
Font changing commands
Thememoirclass enforces the so-called “new” font changing commands (although they have now been
in use for many years.) This means that it does not allow you to use the commands \bf, \it, \rm,
\begin{document} \frontmatter
Titlepage
Public Abstract
Abstract
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations/Symbols
\mainmatterChapter 1
Chapter 2
. . .
Chapter n
Appendices
\backmatterBibliography
\end{document}Table 2: Basic structure of a thesis or dissertation
5.5
Extra Packages
Thememoirclass replicates the functionality of many independent packages, so if you are transferring
LATEX source from other documents using the article class, you may encounter some warnings or
errors. Thememoirdocumentation has substantial information about the packages it emulates, and the
packages for which it provides equivalent functionality. See Chap. 18 Sec. 24 of thememoirmanual for
details. Quoting from the manual:
At the time of writing the emulated packages are: abstract, appendix, booktabs, ccaption, chngcntr, crop, enu- merate, epigraph, ifmtarg, ifpdf, index, makeidx, moreverb, needspace, newfile, nextpage, pagenote, patchcmd, parskip, setspace, shortvrb, showidx, titleref, tocbibind, tocloft, verbatim, and verse. As well as the emulated packages memoir provides functions equivalent to those in the following packages, although the class does not prevent you from using them: fancyhdr, framed, geometry, sidecap, subfigure, and titlesec.
The Memoir Class 10th impression, 2015, p.345
5.6
Captions
5.6.1
Caption delimiter
just consistency I’ve removed colons from the captions entirely, since leaving it in makes the contents lists look really stupid. But in case you or your advisor want the colon in captions, you can add the colon back in by using the Memoir command \captiondelim{:\space}and the class will make sure
the Lists of Tables and Figures match in formatting.
5.6.2
New lists
If you are using other kinds of floats such as listings, you should use the Memoir\newlistofcommand
to make the relevant list. The class provides a macro\msucaptiondelim which can be used to make
sure the formatting of the captions in the list-of-X match the setting you have for Figures and Tables. Here is an example of how you would add a listings list. The following code goes in your preamble:
\newlistof{listoflistings}{lol}{List of Listings} \newfloat[chapter]{listing}{lol}{Listing}
\newlistentry{listing}{lol}{0}
\renewcommand*{\cftlistingname}{Listing\space}
\renewcommand*{\cftlistingaftersnum}{\msucaptiondelim}
Then in your front matter you include a \listoflistings in the same way you would add the \listoffigures or\listoftables (preceded by a \clearpage). In your actual document you would
use. (Note that this code doesn’t actually format a listing as code; you would further embed your favourite code listing environment inside this environment.)
\begin{listing}
Your listing code here \end{listing}
Another common kind of list is a List of Abbreviations. The thesis office seems to want to call this “Key to Abbreviations”. To add such a list, you need to do the following:
\clearpage
\chapter*{Key to Abbreviations} \vspace{\cftparskip}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Key to Abbreviations} Your list of abbreviations here.
5.7
The
microtypepackage and contents lists
If you use the microtype package with protrusion set, it’s best to turn it off before your contents
lists. You can do this by using \microtypesetup{protrusion=false} before the contents lists and \microtypesetup{protrusion=true}afterwards. Schematically:
5.8
Public abstract
If your thesis requires a public abstract, it should go immediately before the regular abstract. Use the
{publicabstract}environment for this. Please note that you must have an abstract even if you also
have a public abstract.
5.9
Landscape figures and tables
If you have large figures and tables that must be rotated, you should use the[lscape]class option. This
enables a pagestyle lscapeand places the page numbers correctly on the long edge of the page. The
option loads the pdflscape package which provides a landscape environment to place the landscape
figure in. Before the landscape environment, you need to issue a\clearpagecommand and change the
pagestyle tolscape, and afterwards, change it back toplain. Schematically, then, any landscape pages
should be created in the following way.
\clearpage\pagestyle{lscape} \begin{landscape}
... your large table(s) or figure(s) here \end{landscape}
\pagestyle{plain}
Thelandscape environment makes all pages within it landscape, so if you have multiple landscape
figures in a row, you can put all of them inside a singlelandscape environment. This option correctly
rotates the landscape pages within the pdf document itself, which the thesis office seems to require.
5.10
Appendices
Appendices in a thesis are usually at the end of the document, but before the bibliography. MSU requires appendices to be preceded by a cover page which says either “Appendix” (if there is only one) or “Appendices” if there is more than one. The class implements this with two environments: {appendix}
for a single appendix and{appendices} for multiple appendices. If your thesis organization requires
appendices per-chapter, you must use the [chapterapp] class option. In either case, the code for
appendices is identical.
5.10.1
Single appendix
If you have a single appendix, your code should look like this:
\begin{appendix}
\chapter{Your appendix title} Appendix text goes here \end{appendix}
5.10.2
Multiple appendices
If you have more than one appendix, your code should look like this:
\begin{appendices}
\chapter{Your first appendix title} Appendix text goes here
\chapter{Your second appendix title} Appendix text goes here
5.10.3
Appendices per chapter
If you need to add an appendix or appendices to a chapter, you must use the[chapterapp]class option.
The code for the appendices themselves is exactly as described above.
5.11
Bibliographies
The class places no constraints on how you do your bibliography. If you have per-chapter bibliographies, you must use the[chapterbib]class option. Before any bibliography (whether global or per-chapter)
you should use the\makebibliographypagecommand.
5.11.1
Bibliography spacing
Please note that although bibliography entries must be single spaced, there must be a space between each entry. This parameter is set by your bibliography package and not by the class itself. If you are usingnatbiborbiblatexthese spacing parameters are set for you by the class. If you are using another
package for your bibliography you are responsible for adjusting the relevant spacing parameters.
5.12
Customizing the look of things
I have created a basic looking style for Chapter headings based on the thatcher style in memoir. If
you want to change these things, you may, using the appropriate \renewcommand commands. More
information can be found in the memoir documentation. The Thesis Office seems to require dotted
leaders for the List of Figures/Tables in the Table of Contents, (despite the guide saying they are optional) even though they get typeset as Chapters. If you wish your Chapter headings to have no leaders, add the following command just after the\mainmattercommand. To put the dots back for the
Bibliography, repeat the same command right after the\backmattercommand, but replace\cftnodots
with\cftdotsep. The default template leaves dots everywhere, which should appease the thesis office. \addtocontents{toc}{%
\protect\renewcommand{\protect\cftchapterdotsep} {\cftnodots}}
Despite there being no explicit formatting requirements for Chapter headings (other than that they start 1 in from the top of the page), the thesis office has been known to dislike many things, so if you do decide to change things, be prepared for rejection or a frustrating fight.
5.13
Things to watch out for
• If you are having problems with the Thesis office about non-conforming formatting, please check first whether you have a local copy of the class instead of the latest version distributed via CTAN. The log file will reflect the date of the current version number. Remember if you are using the most current and updated TeXLive or MikTeX you will automatically have the latest version already and you should not need to install a local version. Overleaf users may need a local copy, since Overleaf is usually a year behind the TeXLive distribution schedule.
• If your title is long and you want to put a newline (\\) into it to improve the spacing, you must
precede the newline with\protect.
• Make sure you pay attention to any “Overfull hbox” warnings when you are producing your final copy. You should make sure you eliminate all of them or else the thesis office is likely to reject your thesis. One common way to eliminate such warnings is to place the command\sloppyat the
• Remember to use the\tableofcontents*command so that your table of contents is not listed in
the table of contents.
• Remember to use the {appendix}environment for single appendices, and the {appendices}
en-vironment for multiple appendices. Do not use the standard LaTeX\appendixcommand.
• Remember to add the \makebibliographypage command before any bibliography in your
docu-ment.
5.14
Master’s Theses
Master’s theses are sometimes relatively short, and you may think that you can just have \section
commands with no chapters. This will not work. The class is designed to use chapters (and as far as I can tell, the Graduate School also expects chapters).
6
Bugs and redistribution
6.1
Current version
The latest copy of msu-thesis will always be available on CTAN. If you use MiKTeX, or a current
year TeX Live then their respective package managers will update or install the latest version. If you are using Overleaf, you may or may not have the most recent version, since Overleaf is usually about one year behind in its TeX distribution. If you are using a Linux-based distribution, or your TeXLive distribution is not the most recent year, you may need to install the latest copy in your local texmf
directory. If you want others to use the class, please point them to CTAN, or tell them to use an up-to-date TeX distribution so that they can use an up-to-up-to-date version with all accompanying documentation and examples rather than passing along your copy. Please report any problems you have with the class to meamunn@msu.edu, as this will aid in making things easier for those who follow you. If you prefer, you may also report issues using GitHub: github.com/amunn/msu-thesis. The Graduate School rarely announces changes it makes to the formatting requirements, so your problem reports are extremely helpful for keeping the class in compliance with the latest standards.
6.2
Archiving your thesis for the future
Since the current version of themsu-thesisclass satisfies the Graduate School requirements at any one
time, as these requirements change, you may find that if you need to recompile your thesis after you have graduated that the formatting changes. To avoid this, I would recommend saving an archived version of themsu-thesis.clsfile in the same folder as your thesis file. You only need to do this once you have
completely finished your thesis however; there’s no need to do it during the writing process.
6.3
Version history
Previous versions of msu-thesis (versions 1.0–1.4b) were created for non-electronic submission and
should not be used. Versions 1.5–1.6 (the first electronic submission versions) contained a\makeabstract
command and a separatemsuabstractenvironment. These have been removed as of version 1.7. Users
who are upgrading from earlier versions to version 1.7 do not need to change these commands how-ever but their use will trigger a warning.) Version 2.0 implemented landscape pages; version 2.1 added support forhyperref. Versions 2.2–2.5 mainly accommodated to the ever changing whims of the MSU
Graduate School. Version 2.6 fixed some appendix bugs introduced by the previous whim accommoda-tion. Version 2.7 fixed various small spacing issues, fixed a bug which prevented a new chapter page to be a landscape page, added support for the apacitepackage, and updated degree options. Version
7
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Lars Madsen, Ulrike Fischer and Peter Wilson for help with setting up parts of the memoir code for versions 1.0–1.4 (now eliminated due to changed requirements). Thanks to Wolfgang Sternefeld for supplying the linguex spacing fix code, Leo Liu for the landscape page numbering code, which
greatly simplified my original version, and Florent Chervet for thehyperref code. Thanks also to the
Appendix A
Sample template
You can find a copy of this templatehere.\documentclass[PhD]{msu-thesis} % Your extra packages here %
% Define the title, author, field of study, date, and dedication (optional) %
\title{The syntax and semantics of phonology} \author{Joe Linguist}
\fieldofstudy{Linguistics} % should be in sentence case \dedication{This thesis is dedicated to someone.} \date{2014} % \begin{document} \frontmatter % \maketitlepage % \begin{abstract}
Your abstract text here \end{abstract} % \clearpage \makecopyrightpage \makededicationpage % \clearpage \chapter*{Acknowledgements} \DoubleSpacing
Your acknowledgements here % \clearpage \SingleSpacing \tableofcontents* \clearpage \listoftables \clearpage \listoffigures % \mainmatter
\chapter{Your first chapter} %
\appendix
\chapter{Your first appendix} \backmatter
\makebibliographypage \SingleSpacing
Appendix B
Linguistic Examples with
gb4e
and
linguex
Themsu-thesisclass has been tested with both thegb4epackage, and thelinguexpackage.
Unfortu-nately some versions of gb4euse old font commands, and so doeslinguex, so if you encounter problems
with either package, load the class with the oldfontcommands option. Since linguistic examples are
usually single spaced, even in theses, you should use the\singleglosscommand (from the cgloss4e
package loaded by bothgb4e and linguex) to make your glosses examples singlespaced. The default
mode for examples themselves is to make them doublespaced. If you want all examples to be single spaced (which looks better if the examples take up more than one line) you need to put the following code in your preamble, which redefines theexe environment to be single spaced. The \patchcommand
macro is part of memoir. Other patching commands such as those provided by theetoolbox package
could also be used.
\patchcommand{\exe}{\SingleSpacing}{}
For thelinguexpackage, you can use the following code: \patchcommand{\ex}{\SingleSpacing}{}
\renewcommand{\ExEnd}{%